


babysitting

by rikymie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin is Whipped, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin-centric, Everyone Is Gay, M/M, Mentioned Mark Lee (NCT), Qian Kun is Whipped, WINKUN, i love winkun, mentioned markwin, not canon, or do they, some mature language used, stan winkun, they kiss, winkun for the win
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-21 22:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22304977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikymie/pseuds/rikymie
Summary: dong sicheng has been babysitting his mother’s friends' eleven-year-old twins for about two months now, which he thought was more than enough time for them to tell him if they had any other children. while babysitting one afternoon, sicheng learns about an unknown older sibling in the worst way possible, but hey, at least he is hot.big big big thank you to my beta-reader, this whole process was made a lot easier by them and they gave me so much amazing advice!
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Qian Kun, Liu Yang Yang/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 1
Kudos: 60
Collections: Winwin Fic Fest Round 1





	1. I

⠀⠀babysitting is the temporary care of a child or other being by someone who is not their own parent or guardian. child care was not an easy job and is definitely not a job just anyone could have. most babysitters start pretty young with their own siblings whether it was volunteered or forced by their parents. others start when they are in high school with the children of their parents' friends or kids in their neighborhood who had busy parents. babysitters did not often start their careers in the midst of their often busy and crazy college lives but for some, it was the only job they could get. that some consisted of a guy named dong sicheng.

⠀⠀dong sicheng was entering his third year in college as an honors student at his school. while honors had gotten him some well needed extra money for his tuition, sicheng needed to start thinking of the big picture. he was not going to be in college forever and it would be nice if he had an amount of money saved up for when he finally graduated. although he wanted this, with the cost of lunch most days, taking the bus when he needed to go out, helping his mother with various house payments, and with the costly price of hanging out with his friends, it was getting quite hard to save the little money he had.

⠀⠀sicheng had applied to many jobs before this point but everyone he was competing with was far more experienced and much more open than he was. this left sicheng to do a few odd jobs here and there, he remembered their once being a guy who paid him just to watch him clean, that was the last time he ever did something like that. now, with his future creeping up on him, sicheng was starting to get desperate.

⠀⠀babysitting was the last thing sicheng thought he would do for a job, but as a struggling college student, he was beginning to think anything was worth trying once. sicheng did not think he was necessarily cut out for babysitting either. he was not assertive or much of a leader, not that babysitters had to be either of those things, but sicheng just could not see himself doing well as a babysitter, no matter how much he thought about it.

⠀⠀well, at least not until his mother introduced him to a friend of her friend who needed someone to watch her twin sons for a more than reasonable salary. the kind mother admitted that everyone in the house was extremely busy and she needed someone to be home when her children were out of school for the afternoon. she explained that the boys were both eleven and fairly well behaved, all sicheng would need to do is make sure they did their homework, feed them when necessary, and put them to bed if she could not come home at the usual time. as someone who had never babysat anyone before in his life, sicheng was nervous to take on such a big job but couldn’t possibly say no.

⠀⠀that was one of sicheng many pitfalls, he had a hard time saying no to people older than him even when every fiber in his body was against the decision. the mother asking seemed very sad about having to ask him to do this, there was not a thing he could say besides yes and agree to the entire ordeal.

⠀⠀sicheng had been incredibly nervous about the job he had agreed too. his mother attempted to ease his mind by saying that childcare was only hard in the earlier years of life, the boys were at a good age so it wouldn’t be too hard on him. this did not ease him in the slightest but it did cause him to do as much research on babysitting as humanly possible. he had a week to prepare himself for every possible situation, become an expert babysitter, and process the fact that he would be in charge of two children for multiple hours very soon.

⠀⠀as the week rolled by, sicheng realized very quickly that this might not have been the best job for him, he could barely take care of himself, let alone two children who would be almost entirely dependant on him. when he asked his mom how bad it would be if he backed out but with only one day before he was supposed to start, she could only pat him on the head and say good luck.

⠀⠀that was how sicheng became the babysitter of eleven year old twins, qian kai and qian wei. the first day he met them was a little awkward but after two months of getting to know them, the three had become very comfortable with each other. sicheng learned a lot about kids in the time he had watched the twins and had come to find that kids these days were much different than when he was younger.

⠀⠀kai and wei were just as well behaved as their mother had described them but sicheng soon became conscious to the fact that while the twins were well behaved, they also liked testing his patience. it was almost like some days, before the boys entered the house, they mutually agreed that they would be particularly defiant and just not work with sicheng at all and other days they would agree to be perfect angels. he was forced to adapt to the twins many moods and behaviors, finding different ways to deal with what was happening around him in relation to the twins.

⠀⠀sicheng would come to their house every monday, wednesday, and friday afternoon to make sure the boys did what they needed to before their mother would return later that night. some nights, sicheng would put the boys to bed himself while other nights their mother would come home in time to do it herself. regardless, after the boys were in bed, sicheng would report the events of the night to their mother and she would pay him for his time. sicheng really enjoyed talking to the twins mother because she always had something kind and encouraging to say, even on the days when the twins were rough, talking to their mother seemed to wash his exhaustion away.

⠀⠀finally, after an often long afternoon of watching kai and wei, sicheng would make the short walk back to his own house which was only a few streets away. there were some times when his mother would pick him up but he enjoyed walking as it was a nice break from the complications of life around him, he could lose himself in those walks. it was also good exercise as sicheng was not one to go to the gym every other day like some of his more athletic friends, babysitting was the most exercise he ever had.

⠀⠀all in all, babysitting was not nearly as crazy as sicheng thought it would be, two months passed with little to no problems, besides the sudden bouts of misbehavior, and it seemed to just be smooth sailing from there.

⠀⠀but nothing had prepared sicheng for all of that to change one fateful friday afternoon.


	2. II

⠀⠀sicheng was unlocking the door to the qian family’s house when he received a message from the twins mother saying she was going to be home later than usual. this was not a problem to him as he loved watching the twins and since it was a friday, they had more freedom than on school nights. walking into the home, sicheng headed to the kitchen where he would work on his homework until the twins arrived. being an honors student meant he had a rather large workload most of the time but even with that, he always managed to get his work done and turn it in on time every week.

⠀⠀through working on problem after problem, it was not long till sicheng heard the familiar sound of a family friend dropping the twins off. the car door closed with a thud before they bounded loudly toward the door, unlocking it and letting themselves in. 

⠀⠀“ _ayi_ , we don’t have homework today,” sicheng recognized this shout to be wei. wei was usually the more quiet of the pair but when he had something to say, he said it very loud. wei had always reminded him of himself when he was younger, quiet but confident. although sicheng had always thought of himself as being quiet, his friends definitely had some other choice words to object to that.

⠀⠀yes, the twins called sicheng _auntie_ but there was nothing that could be done about that now. in the first month of babysitting, he had tried to object to this name with the idea that they were not taking him seriously and might even be mocking him. two months in, sicheng finally understood what it really meant, yeah he would have preferred being called big brother or uncle but auntie was just as endearing and respectful.

⠀⠀“yeah, _ayi_ our teacher gave us a break this weekend,” kai followed, feeling the need to enforce what his brother had just said. kai was the more mischievous of the twins, he did not act out but he often was the instigator of arguments between him and his brother. kai did not necessarily remind sicheng of himself but he did remind him of his best friend yukhei. yukhei was somewhat cantankerous and at times infuriating but having grown up near him, sicheng found that despite his annoyance, something about yukhei was just lovable. that infuriating yet magnetic aura is how kai reminded him of yukhei. 

⠀⠀now that sicheng was thinking about the similarities between the twins, himself, and his best friend, he had come to realize that this comparison was implying that yukhei and himself were siblings when in reality, they were nothing of the sort. sicheng couldn’t even begin to explain his distaste in the sudden realization. yukhei was great but there was no way he would survive living with him his entire life before university. sicheng pushed this concept aside as to focus on the task of babysitting that was now officially upon him.

⠀⠀wei and kai rid themselves of their shoes and ran to the living room where sicheng could see them from the kitchen. the pair looked at the tv longingly and then towards sicheng with anticipation. since he had started babysitting wei and kai, their mother put him in charge of the tv so when the twins came home, the tv stayed off until sicheng decided to turn it on.

⠀⠀“you know i have to check your course books before i turn on the tv for you,” he called from his place at the kitchen table, he was just about finished with the major parts of his own assignments and now he needed to confirm that the twins actually did not have any coursework as they claimed. wei and kai grabbed their work books out of their bags before handing them to sicheng and heading back into the living room. after flipping through each, sicheng was relieved to see that they really did not have a lesson to work on for the weekend. trying to get the twins to do their coursework on a friday night was often met with much resistance and rebellion so this was definitely a win for all of them. 

⠀⠀“can we use the tv now?” kai asked excitedly, sicheng nodded in response and flipped the tv on. “ _ayi_ , you wanna hear about how wei got in trouble in class today?” kai giggled with a glance toward his twin who was now glaring at him. there it was, the mischievous yet admirable personality kai had.

⠀⠀“it was his fault, he took my pencil,” wei whined as he continued explaining the situation. sicheng watched as the twins bichered playfully, this is what made him enjoy the job so much. the miniscule arguments the kids had everyday were a regular discussion topic and sicheng was always entertained by the hyperbolic ways they described the incidents. 

⠀⠀this was the routine, it made the twins very easy to watch. a usual afternoon consisted of doing homework, talking about how school went on that particular day, watching television, playing video games, and then depending on when the twins mother would get home, sometimes sicheng would heat up food the twins mother left for them. things would change here and there but nothing too out of the ordinary ever happened as he watched the boys.

⠀⠀sicheng was in the living room watching as the twins play video games when he heard something that made his heart stop.

⠀⠀all of a sudden, the sound of a shower could be heard from the upper floor of the house. the twins did not react to this in the slightest but the hyper aware sicheng was paralyzed. no one but the twins and himself were supposed to be home at the time so why was the shower on.

⠀⠀“is someone else home right now?” sicheng asked the twins cautiously. wei and kai looked at each other and shrugged before returning to playing their game. sicheng was at a loss for words as he waited for a more tangible reply. he wanted nothing more than at least one of the boys to have a sensible explanation for what he was hearing.

⠀⠀“we don’t know, maybe,” kai finally spoke up, breaking the silence between the trio. kai glanced toward sicheng and back to his game before adding, “maybe it’s a ghost,” followed by a giggle from wei.

⠀⠀“or maybe someone broke in,” wei said, playing off what kai was saying, “a shower bandit, here to steal our soaps,” both the twins laughed at their own jokes but sicheng was not having it in the slightest. they were being far too nonchalant about the possibility of a ghost or intruder in the house while sicheng could feel his soul leaving his body.

⠀⠀this was practically breaking sicheng mentally, he had never been so scared in his entire life. he had no idea what those responses were supposed to mean but could not force himself to utter a single word in response. sicheng listened to the sound of the shower, hoping it was just his mind playing tricks on him. this could not possibly be happening to him, he had solutions to many other babysitting problems but an intruder was not one of those problems. he had fire escape plans, natural disaster drills, even plans if a ghost started haunting the house, but somehow sicheng overlooked the possibility of someone breaking in and taking a shower. at least if it was an actual ghost, sicheng would have a plan of how to deal with it. as the shower continued on without stopping, sicheng felt like he was just waiting for something to happen, for someone to do something about this situation. it was at this moment he realized that as their current guardian, he actually needed to do something about this.

⠀⠀“i’ll be back in a minute, stay here,” sicheng said to the boys as he lifted himself from the couch. they nodded, eyes still focused on the game. sicheng would have rolled his eyes at the kids if he was not so damn terrified.

⠀⠀he could not control his raging heart beat as he crept silently up the staircase toward what he expected to be his doom. at the top of the staircase, he could see a slim beam of light coming from the bathroom where the shower was being used. he wanted to cry, usually in the movies the babysitter would be empowered by his need to protect the kids he was watching but not sicheng, all sicheng wanted to do was cry. he walked slowly to the bathroom door and listened closely, there was no mistaking it now.

⠀⠀someone was using the shower.


	3. III

⠀⠀sicheng’s mind went blank. all he could do was stare at the closed door of the bathroom, hoping that if he thought hard enough, the entire bathroom would just disappear. minutes passed as sicheng stared at the door, he literally could not move, he was far too scared to do anything. sicheng knew he would one day die but he did not know it would happen at the hands of a shower intruder. the beating of his own heart was so loud in his ears that he failed to hear the shower turn off, as the person who was using it was finally done.

⠀⠀sicheng was hurled back into reality when the bathroom door flung open and the intruder who was in the bathroom stubbled right into him, sending them both onto the ground with a loud thud. sicheng let his body go limp, expecting to die any second now but after what felt like an eternity of having his eyes closed, death never came. moments later, two sets of feet came scrambling up the stairs to see what the commotion was about.

⠀⠀“ _gege_! what are you doing to _ayi_?” wei shouted at the scene in front of him.

⠀⠀sicheng’s eyes flew open, only to be met with the eyes of someone else peering down at him. as the two looked into each others eyes, they did not say a word. it had felt like time itself had stopped and they were the only two still moving. sicheng’s breath hitched in his throat as he was rendered completely and utterly speechless by the man on top of him.

⠀⠀“ _gege…_ ” sicheng let the word slip past by his lips before processing what it actually meant. kai and wei ran over to the pair and started attacking the unknown boy with soft kicks and punches until he had finally lifted himself off sicheng to block the twins.

⠀⠀“guys come on, calm down, i didn’t even do anything,” the boy said as he defended himself against the twins many strikes. sicheng was still laying on the ground, trying to process what in the world was happening around him. this was definitely an enigma and sicheng just was not understanding anything.

⠀⠀“ _ayi_ , are you okay?” kai asked, stopping to kneel down next to the emotionally exhausted boy. sicheng nodded, physically he was okay but mentally, he was spiraling. wei soon stopped his attacking as well to kneel next to sicheng.

⠀⠀sicheng looked at the unknown boy who was now standing over him, looked at both of the twins, then back at the unknown boy.

⠀⠀“you must be the babysitter, i don’t believe we’ve met before,” the unknown boy said as he held his hand out for sicheng to take. sicheng hesitantly grabbed the others hand and was finally pulled to his feet. “i’m qian kun, the twins older brother,” he continued, hand still holding sichengs.

⠀⠀ _older brother_. if not for the similarities the siblings shared, he would not have believed it. the twins mother had never mentioned another member of the family and suddenly, there one was, right in front of him, holding his hand, with only a towel wrapped around his waist. as if the pair realized this at the same time, their faced went deep red, they broke eye contact, and pulled their hands away from each other.

⠀⠀“well, i should go get dressed and then i’ll meet you all downstairs alright,” kun said, patting his siblings on the head lightly before hurrying to what sicheng can only imagine to be his own room. the twins made their way back downstairs as sicheng stood frozen in the hall. all his thoughts were finally catching up to him and one realization stood out amongst the rest.

⠀⠀kun was hot.

⠀⠀kun was _really_ hot.

⠀⠀with this in mind, sicheng trudged down the stairs and sat at the kitchen table, head in his hands. that had to be one of the most embarrassing moments of his life, in fact, he could not think of anything worse than what had just occurred. falling into a gay panic, sicheng had a million things racing through his mind. why had the twins mother never mentioned she had another son? why had the twins themselves never mentioned their older sibling to him? how was it possible for one human to be that extremely attractive? was he, by any chance, single? or more importantly, was he as gay as sicheng? all completely valid questions that he did not have the answers to.

⠀⠀sicheng had met an actual angel, a man so beautiful he could not have possibly been human. qian kun. older brother of qian wei and qian kai. now the owner of sicheng’s heart. sicheng was not one to freak out over a guy but this was different, this guy was hot and this guy was going to be around him for the next few hours.

⠀⠀sicheng resorted to texting the only person he could think of. he knew this might not have been the best idea in the world but he was so panicked, he figured he would take his chances. just seconds after sending the long winded text explaining the situation, he got the call he knew he would receive

⠀⠀“aw you found your soulmate, what about me? i thought we were soulmates.” sicheng rolled his eyes as he listened to yukhei whine over the phone. yukhei had this profound notion that him and sicheng had been platonic soulmates since birth, big emphasis on the platonic part of that keyword. sicheng had to admit that he did have a thing for yukhei for a few years but after being platonic soulmate zoned since they were basically old enough to talk, he gave up that dream. now here sicheng was, asking his past crush for advice on a situation he knew yukhei would be of minimal to no help in.

⠀⠀“also how did you not know kun existed, he has literally lived there as long as we have and we have definitely been to parties he has been at,” yukhei questioned, making sicheng feel even more like a clown. yukhei and sicheng had went to parties together often as high schoolers but the night always ended in yukhei having to take sicheng home because he never knew his limits when it came to drinking.

⠀⠀“yukhei please, i wanted your advice,” sicheng pleaded. he wasn’t necessarily desperate for advice but he needed someone to hype him up so he could handle the situation head on.

⠀⠀“well if you ask me, this man is obviously gay and you may have just found your future boyfriend,” yukhei said before adding, “wow i am truly being replaced, my heart hurts, my boy winwin is moving on.”

⠀⠀winwin was a nickname yukhei had given to sicheng in their elementary years. he seldom used it anymore but snuck it into conversations whenever he got the chance. yukhei had always wanted sicheng to think of a nickname for him but after suggesting dumbass, yukhei gave up that idea.

⠀⠀“you think every guy i mention to you is gay,” sicheng said skeptically. it was true, yukhei had this crazy idea that every guy sicheng showed any interest in was gay, sicheng figured it was just a ploy in order to help him fathom that he had a chance with any of them but this idea was often found to be false. “are you actually sure,” sicheng asked.

⠀⠀“sicheng, my dear, has my gaydar ever been wrong?”

⠀⠀“yes, many times.”

⠀⠀“anyways,” yukhei said quickly, “while you may have never noticed him at parties, i definitely did and i have never seen him dance with girls or even really interact with them,” sensing that sicheng was not completely convinced, he continued on in hopes to sway the other. “if this guy was straight, he would have gotten off of you right away but you said there was a long pause,” he made a compelling point that sicheng disputed almost immediately begin the pessimist he often was.

⠀⠀“i think it was just the initial shock that made him pause but okay,” sicheng muttered bitterly.

⠀⠀“or it was because he was mesmerized by you and got caught in the moment, you are a really good looking guy sicheng,” yukhei interjected. as annoying as yukhei was, he always ended up saying the right thing, regardless of whether sicheng wanted to hear it or not. “hell, i would have shot my shot at you years ago had i ever thought you were into me, trust me baby winwin, shoot you shot,” this caught sicheng completely off guard but he was soon on high alert when he heard the sound of someone beginning to walk down the main stairs.

⠀⠀“yukhei you have no idea how much we need to talk about that baggage you just laid on me but hot guy is coming back downstairs and i am actually going to die,” sicheng said as quietly and quickly as he possibly could.

⠀⠀“good luck lover boy,” yukhei said, sicheng could just envision him waving his first in the air at him as if to say some cheesy encouraging words like you can do this. “but, just so you know, i have to meet this guy before you date okay,” yukhei added as a warning, “he needs my seal of approval.”

⠀⠀“whatever yukhei, i need to go,” sicheng said hastily as he knew his time was running out. “i do not say this a lot and do not ask me to repeat but even though i hate you sometimes i really love you and you are a great friend okay bye,” sicheng added, hanging up before yukhei could even attempt to reply.

⠀⠀kun would be downstairs any second now and sicheng would need to dominate this interaction head on with confidence, he was not ready for this in the slightest.


	4. IV

⠀⠀“ _gege_ ,” the twins cheered as their older brother finally made his appearance. sicheng lifted his head to see both wei and kai clinging to kun, practically climbing all over him.

⠀⠀“earlier you were attacking me and now you want to love me,” kun sulked, not returning the affection he was receiving, arms crossed against his chest. this did not last long as within a few seconds of sulking, he gathered his brothers in his arms and hugged them rather tightly. sicheng was completely entranced by the smile on kun’s face, he had met many good looking people in his life but none could compare to the boy in front of him now. to say kun simply looked good was an understatement, kun’s beauty was truly of another realm, completely out of this world, celestial even.

⠀⠀“you were attacking _ayi_ so we had to protect him,” kai explained as he pointed to sicheng who had just been observing the display in front of him. sicheng was not quite ready to insert himself into the situation just yet but here he was, being forced in by an eleven year old. sicheng smiled meekly, wanting nothing more than to just evaporate. well, he thought he might just do that considering how hot kun was, sicheng could feel his mouth becoming dry just by being in his presence.

⠀⠀“i did not do anything to him, look he’s fine,” kun insisted. the twins, having finally let their older brother go, were now standing in front of him with very skeptical looks. “okay, you guys watch tv and i’m gonna go talk to _ayi_ , is that alright, i can talk to him,” after looking at each other, the twins slowly nodded and returned to their places on the living room couch. kun laughed lightly at his brothers antics before slipping into the seat right next to sicheng.

⠀⠀kun was absolutely _ethereal_ and sicheng just knew he was absolutely _fucked_. if this look was what kun called house casual then sicheng must have looked like a peasant. it was almost as if this entire scenario was playing in front of him but he wasn’t really apart of it, like he was watching someone else's dream. sicheng was so deep in admiring kun’s prince like aura that he nearly missed what the other was saying to him.

⠀⠀“sorry about earlier, i wasn’t expecting you to be right outside the door,” kun explained with a smile.

⠀⠀“no don’t worry about it really, i wasn't expecting you to fall for me,” sicheng said, trying not to stumble over his words because of how nervous he was but in doing so, it took him a moment to realize just how stumbled his words became. “i mean fall on me, i was not expecting you to fall on me, i’m sorry about all this,”

⠀⠀“i guess you could say i did a little of both but at least it was a happy accident,” kun said slyly. if sicheng wasn’t mistaken, that was definitely something only a homosexual like himself would say to another man. “i don’t believe i caught your name earlier,” kun added.

⠀⠀“sicheng, dong sicheng,” managed to force out through his near speechlessness. was this attractive man really flirting with him because wow, this really was a metaphysical experience, maybe he was actually dreaming. the even more surprising thing was that for once, yukhei’s gaydar was right. before letting his mind run too far off the track, sicheng pulled himself back to earth and to the conversation at hand.

⠀⠀“my mother mentioned that she had hired a babysitter for the twins, it’s nice to be able to match a face with all the nice things she had to say about you,” kun explained. sicheng couldn’t help but smile knowing that the twins mother thought so highly of him, it was nice to hear that he was actually doing a good job. it was also quite pleasing to learn these good things from an extremely attractive potential suitor.

⠀⠀“she’s too kind,” sicheng started shyly, “actually, she never mentio-”

⠀⠀“ _ayi_ , we’re hungry,” kai interrupted loudly as he entered the kitchen with his brother. the twins stood next to sicheng and began to tug on his arms in an attempt to force him out of his seat. sicheng obliged and let the boys pull him up and out, toward the fridge where he would find them something to eat.

⠀⠀“alright alright, i’ll make you something,” sicheng said as he shook the twins hands off his arms. the boys cheered happily and sat at the kitchen table where their brother still resided.

⠀⠀“are you two always this needy,” kun asked after observing the event between his siblings and their babysitter. as sicheng prepared a snack for the group, he couldn’t help but be extremely distracted by the endearing trio at the table. every few minutes he found his attention turned toward kun and his brothers, watching them talk and interact with each other. with each glance he tried to sneak, kun managed to catch his eyes every time until finally, he heard kun get up from his seat.

⠀⠀ _fuck, it’s over._ sicheng could barely focus on plating the boys snack as kun crept behind him and began peaking over his shoulder. kun, however, did not get very far trying to peak over sicheng’s shoulder as the two were practically the same height but finally, he pulled the finishing move. sicheng’s movements almost stopped completely when he felt kun place his chin on his shoulder, the heat was almost unbearable.

⠀⠀“wow, looks great,” kun said innocently as he gazed at sicheng, chin still resting on his shoulder. sicheng, feeling extremely warm, turned his head ever so slightly to glance at the boy on him. “oh, the food looks good too,”

⠀⠀ _dear lord._

⠀⠀“oh please,” sicheng said under his breath in a panic as he grabbed the plate of snacks and shook kun off of his shoulder, he placed the plate in front of the excited twins then proceeded to sit next to them. his heart was beating at an unbelievable speed, he thought it might pop out of his chest if he moved to fast. kun sat on the other side of the twins and also indulged in the snacks as if he did not just send sicheng into a spiraling gay mess.

⠀⠀once the snacks were gone, kai and wei thanked sicheng. the pair then grabbed their older brother and dragged him with them to the living room where they would play video games together. sicheng took care of the plates and put everything away before he joined the group in the living room.

⠀⠀for a short while, sicheng sat and watched them, admiring how close they were. he had often played games with the twins but watching the three siblings play was different, it was captivating. part of what made babysitting so fun was that sicheng himself never had any siblings so it almost felt like the twins were his little brothers without the trouble and annoyance of having to be around them everyday. at least, that was how yukhei always described what it was like having siblings, troublesome and annoying.

⠀⠀“you wanna play,” kun called out to sicheng, holding out a remote for him to join. sicheng nodded happily as he took the remote, excited to be able to join the cute threesome. from game to game they went, usually teaming in pairs of two playing against each other, enjoying their time as the hours flew by.

⠀⠀“alright, i have to prepare dinner,” sicheng said getting up and turning off his remote. “as for you two, tidy up this area a bit please,” sicheng suggested to the twins, although it was understood to be more of an order than simply a suggestion. kai and wei did as they were told, turning off their game before beginning to put things away.

⠀⠀“got anything for me to do,” kun asked playfully, following sicheng into the kitchen.

⠀⠀“you can set the table while i heat up the food your mom left for us,” sicheng said as he opened the fridge and grabbed the labeled meal. the twins mother always left food for sicheng to heat up when she knew she wasn’t going to be home to make it herself. as sicheng started the process of heating the food, kun grabbed plates from the cabinet and started to set the table, a comfortable silence fell between the two. usually, in moments like this, sicheng would feel obligated to speak in order to end the suffocating silence but this was different, this was serene. just as the twins were finished cleaning, the food was ready and the table was set.

⠀⠀everyone settled into their seats and the meal began. the twins mother was an amazing cook and sicheng sometimes hoped she would come home late so he would have the opportunity to eat whatever food she decided to make for the afternoon. nothing too significant happened during today’s dinner, other than the fact that there was one more individual than usual. as their meal came to an end, the twins excused themselves and sicheng sent them to get ready for bed as they did routinely.

⠀⠀“i’ll clean up the table, thank you for the food,” kun said as he began clearing the dishes that had been left on the table. sicheng could do nothing but let the other do what he wanted, like who would argue with someone who wanted to help out.

⠀⠀“you should thank you mother, she made it all,” sicheng commented, handing kun his plate. kun nodded understandingly, his mother really was something special after all. “while we’re on the topic, don’t take this the wrong way but” sicheng spoke slowly, unsure of how this would go, “your mother never really mentioned you to me, i had no idea you existed until today,”

⠀⠀kun let out a loud laugh before covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle it. sicheng let himself laugh carefully as well, not exactly sure on why kun was laughing in the first place.

⠀⠀“seriously, that’s insane,” kun finally said through his giggles.

⠀⠀sicheng agreed, it was insane, but now sicheng was worried about why she had never mentioned him. kun seemed normal, maybe a bit of a fuckboy but sicheng was not at all complaining.

⠀⠀“well, i don’t come around all that often now that i moved to an apartment closer to my university so i guess she had no reason to bring me up,” kun said with a shrug. “must have slipped her mind,”

⠀⠀sicheng didn’t exactly believe that the existence of another kid just slips parents mind but their mother was very busy so he couldn’t hold this situation against her at all.

⠀⠀“now i understand what she meant when she said everyone in the family was busy,” sicheng said, which now that he thought about it, it would have made no sense for her to mention if it had only been her and the twins. sicheng could have been informed of kun’s existence from the beginning if he had asked more questions but that was all in the past now. glancing at the time, sicheng realized that it was now time to tuck the boys in and tell them good night. “i’m gonna go and get the boys to bed, do you want to help,” sicheng asked kun as he started walking to the stairs. kun nodded and without a word, the pair made their way up the stairs to the twins bedroom.


	5. V

⠀⠀sicheng opened the door to the twins room quietly to find them already laying in their beds. both siblings had their handheld games but powered them down as soon as sicheng and kun entered the room. nights were usually peaceful as wei and kai often went down pretty easy with little to no fussing.

⠀⠀“is mama not gonna tuck us in,” wei spoke up first as sicheng and kun headed toward his bed.

⠀⠀“mama is gonna be home late today but she’ll come in as soon as she is here,” sicheng said, tucking wei in as he did every so often. once wei was properly tucked, it was time to move on to kai. kun took the initiative with this one, mimicking everything sicheng had done with wei, but this time with kai. a blanket of sudden exhaustion seems to flush over the twins as they struggled to keep their eye on sicheng and kun.

⠀⠀“good night,” sicheng and kun said, only getting mumbles of replies from the tired boys. the pair left the room quietly and headed back down the stairs. the beasts were finally put to rest and sicheng could finally do his own thing. sicheng sat down on the living room couch and flipped the tv on to something more in his age range rather than an eleven year olds range.

⠀⠀“you are really good with my brothers, now i understand what my mom meant by all the things she said about you,” kun said as he took a seat next to sicheng on the couch. sicheng was momentarily stunned by how close he was to the other and how the heat radiating off of kun was burning him but he somehow collected himself and formulated a reply.

⠀⠀“well i have had two months to become an expert care taker,” sicheng said as he glanced at kun who had already been staring at him. “the way you interact with your brothers is cute, they are truly lucky to have you,”

⠀⠀“i do what i can as the older brother,” kun replied as he casually placed his arm across the couch and over sicheng’s shoulders. this was anything but casual to sicheng, although kun pulled it off so smoothly that he couldn’t even complain.

⠀⠀the room went silent while kun and sicheng’s eyes connected just as intensely as they did during their first encounter. sicheng felt as if he was being drawn into a golden ocean of brown that was peppered with soft star-like sparkles. he wondered what the other boy was thinking about at this moment, was he as mesmerized as himself. without a word, kun found himself beginning to lean toward sicheng ever so slightly and the other boy did the same. sicheng could see kun’s eyes beginning to trace his lips before coming back to meet his own. there was a fiery ache in the pit of his stomach that yearned for more than this simple interaction and he knew kun could feel it too. it was almost like kun could push sicheng over the edge in a second and they were all very aware of this fact.

⠀⠀the pair could feel the heat of the situation rising but no one dared to say a word just yet. they seemed to both just be testing out the waters and waiting to see where the waves would take them. kun slowly brought his hand up to caress the side of sicheng’s face, he did this for only a few seconds before taking his hand away slightly and finally speaking.

⠀⠀“can i kiss you?” kun asked quietly, although with the mood of the situation, the answer was already known. at this point, all caution had been thrown to the wind, any anxieties sicheng had previously harbored were gone and the only thing he had was this moment.

⠀⠀“yes,” sicheng replied in something that can only be described as a whisper. with that, kun’s hand found its place on sichengs face once again as they two were brought together slowly.

⠀⠀only about a centimeter measured the distance between their lips when a sudden voice was heard.

⠀⠀“sicheng honey, i’m back,” the qian family's mother called out after having opened the front door. this sent sicheng and kun flying to different sides of the couch, both trying to recover themselves from an almost very steamy moment. “sorry i was late today, i had a deadline to meet,” she added, taking off her shoes before officially making her way into the living room.

⠀⠀”hey mama,” kun said happily as he jumped from the couch and into her arms. the mother gushed happily over the surprise return of her son while sicheng was still on the couch trying to evaluate what in the world had just happened.

⠀⠀“why are home, aren’t you busy with school,” she asked happily, still hugging her son before then looking at sicheng, “and i see you and sicheng have finally gotten to meet,”

⠀⠀“my classes for the next week got cancelled so i got a ride down here with yangyang,” kun said as he was being smothered by his mother’s love and affection, which was reasonable since she had not seen him in a little over two months. after making a few comments about how skinny kun had gotten and interrogating him on whether he was eating properly or not, kun’s mother finally let him go.

⠀⠀“i have missed you so much,” she said, looking at her son up and down. sicheng could feel how proud she was of kun, it practically radiated off of her.

⠀⠀“okay but mama, why did you never tell him about me,” kun interjected with a fake pout toward his mother as he was finally released from her grasp.

⠀⠀“what do you mean, of course i mentioned you to him,” she defended, although she looked like she wasn’t quite sure if she ever had mentioned kun. “i mean, i feel like i would have mentioned you,”

⠀⠀“well i was quite surprised when there was a sudden stranger in the house earlier today, i thought there was an intruder,” sicheng finally spoke up. mama qian was extremely intrigued by this story, listening as sicheng recounted the events of the day as he often did after his afternoon of babysitting. he left out some of the more intimate and just embarrassing parts but mama qian did not seem to mind, she was loving to hear about the incidents as sicheng was telling them.

⠀⠀“that must have been an experience for you sicheng hun, sorry you got so scared like that,” mama qian hugged sicheng lightly before ruffling kuns hair. “and i’m glad kun has been treating you nicely.”

⠀⠀“more than you know,” kun muttered quietly but just loud enough for sicheng to hear and nearly choke on his own words. sicheng could only pray their kun’s mother hadn’t heard a word and no his luck, it did not seem like she did.

⠀⠀the three spoke for a little while longer but mama qian was well aware that sicheng needed to start heading home as his job was finally done. she grabbed his usual pay plus some over time money and handed it to the boy.

⠀⠀“are you gonna be okay walking home,” she asked as sicheng began to gather his items. she was always worried about sicheng when he had to leave late and sicheng was always very appreciative of her for that.

⠀⠀“yes, i do this practically every other day,” sicheng replied kindly having collected his things and made his way to the door. 

⠀⠀“i’ll walk him home so no need to worry mom,” kun said as he slipped on his shoes and stood next to sicheng, ready to head out. normally sicheng would insist on walking on his own as to not be a burden but walking with kun didn’t seem too bad. 

⠀⠀“thank you kun, both of you be safe,” mama qian gave both boys a hug before they made their way out of the house and started the short trek to sichengs home. 

⠀⠀“how have you always lived so close but we’ve never met,” kun commented quizzically. sicheng was also quite curious about this but knowing how he was in years past, he was one to hide behind yukhei’s overpowering personality at all neighborhood events including parties.

⠀⠀“i was never one to venture out during neighborhood activities but if it’s of any constellation to you, i’m glad that we got to meet now,” sicheng said looking down at his hands that were clasped together in front of him.

⠀⠀“i am glad we got to meet too,” kun said as his voice drifted into the white noise of the night. the walk was mainly quiet from that point on since the pair didn’t want to disturb anyone in the calm neighborhood. there was some occasional small talk but the comfortable silence between the two spoke more than words ever could. finally, sicheng and kun found themselves on the front porch of sicheng’s house.

⠀⠀“you didn’t need to walk me all the way home but thank you,” sicheng said with a shy smile.

⠀⠀“no problem at all, have a nice night,” kun said with a small wave. sicheng turned to unlock the door to his house and opened the door before turning back to the other boy. “oh yeah, and here,” kun said as he held out a small rectangular card to sicheng. the card had the name qian kun printed on it as well as a phone number below it. “call me sometime,” kun added with a wink as he turned away and started to walk away from sicheng’s house.

⠀⠀sicheng was beyond happy but two things were running through his mind as he closed his front door and leaned on it from the inside. the first was questioning why kun had these cards in the first place, he just seemed to have the one so was he just waiting to find someone to give it to. then finally, the second thought consisted of seven words.

⠀⠀“i am going to date that boy.”

⠀⠀a few moments later, there was a sudden knock on the door that made sicheng jump. he slowly opened the door only to gape at the person who was now standing before him.


	6. VI

⠀⠀“so we coming back from babysitting at almost midnight now huh,” yukhei said as he snaked past sicheng and into his friend's house. he slipped off his shoes before making his way further into the living establishment. “i saw you and lover boy kun on the porch so i thought i would stop by,” he added, jumping over the back of the couch in order to lay on the cushions.

⠀⠀“oh my god yukhei, he is literally amazing,” sicheng gushed as he flopped over the couch and slumped directly onto yukhei. “why have you never introduced him to me,”

⠀⠀“well after you dumped mark in our junior year of high school, you never showed any interest in dating so why would i introduce you to people,” yukhei said while slowly pushing sicheng off of him and onto the floor lightly as to not hurt him. “plus, kun was a grade above us and we were only acquaintances, i was never in any position to introduce anyone to him,” he added with a shrug. sicheng stood from his place on the floor and lifted yukhei’s head so he could sit before placing yukhei’ head on his lap.

⠀⠀“i can’t fault you for that i guess,” sicheng muttered as he threaded his fingers through his best friend's hair. “at least he gave me his number,” sicheng added, holding up the card kun had given him so yukhei could see.

⠀⠀in a second, yukhei snatched the card from his hand and jumped from the couch, racing toward what the two both knew to be the bathroom. sicheng leapt after yukhei in an attempt to snag any thing he could in order to stop the extremely fast boy. by the time sicheng had gotten even remotely close to yukhei, he had shut the bathroom door and locked it behind him.

⠀⠀“yukhei, give it back,” sicheng said as he leant against the door dejectedly. normally he would be yelling and trying to ram through the door but because of how late it was, sicheng didn’t want to disturb his mother during her sleep. “what are you even gonna do with it,” sicheng asked as he smooshed the side of his face on the door so he could hear what yukhei was doing.

⠀⠀“hey kun, you may not really remember me but we met at a few parties in high school, i’m yukhei,” his voice rang out from the bathroom and sicheng’s heart dropped. “we didn’t go to the same school but some of our friends knew each other so we only spoke a few times,”

⠀⠀“yukhei,” sicheng whispered from the other side of the door, he needed to get in that damn room.

⠀⠀“yeah sorry for calling so late, i was just talking to my good friend sicheng and he told me you guys met this afternoon,” yukhei said loudly, all sicheng could do was slump to the floor in front of the bathroom door and reach his fingers under the door in desperation. “oh you wanna know whether he is single or not, what’s it to you,” yukhei questioned, sicheng was dying to know what in the world was happening on the other end of that line. “i see, well i will have you know that sicheng is single and totally ready to mingle,” yukhei announced with much exaggeration.

⠀⠀“yukhei, do not make me go shining on you,” sicheng threatened quietly, continuing to stick his fingers through the slot under the door as much as he could. yukhei only knelt down and touched sicheng’s fingers while he continued his conversation on the phone.

⠀⠀“can i ask why you have these number cards on you, sicheng was so happy to have gotten it so i snatched it from him as he was gushing about it and ran to call you,” yukhei clowned mischievously, sicheng could not hear what kun’s reply had been but he knew it made yukhei laugh so it must have been good. while yukhei was distracted with laughing, sicheng took this as an opportunity to grab one of his fingers and squeeze as to not lose hold. “oh shit,” yukhei exclaimed as he tried pulling his finger out of the others grasp from under the door, he must have been extremely pressed because sicheng was just not letting go.

⠀⠀“hang up,” sicheng said through his teeth as he squeezed the other boys finger tighter.

⠀⠀“sicheng is getting jealous because i am talking to you so i think i have to go,” yukhei said which resulted in sicheng beginning to pull yukhei’s finger under the door, adding more pain to an already painful experience. “he wants me to tell you that he’ll text you in a bit, bye bye kunnie,” yukhei said cutely before hanging up and finally putting all his strength into pulling his finger back. sicheng finally let go and stood up, ready to attack yukhei as soon as he opened the door.

⠀⠀a few moments passed and yukhei then slipped the number card under the door for sicheng to grab. sicheng quickly snatched the card and put it in his pocket with a huff.

⠀⠀“you can come out, i won’t hurt you,” sicheng said trudging away from the door of the bathroom to sit on the couch where he had been before this entire mess. yukhei unlocked the door and after a few seconds, opened the door slightly as to take a peak at sicheng.

⠀⠀“well if my intuition serves me right, kun is really into you,” yukhei said as he slipped out of the bathroom and made small steps toward the coach sicheng was on. sicheng glared in the direction of yukhei, causing the boy to hesitate in stepping forward. finally sicheng put a pout on his face and opened his arms for yukhei who then excitedly dived into the arms of his friend.

⠀⠀“he is just so good looking and nice,” sicheng whined into yukhei’s shoulder as the two hugged.

⠀⠀while this may have been seen as intimate to people who didn’t know sicheng and yukhei, this was almost a regular friday night without the initial boy crisis. yukhei was a very affectionate person and had a lot of affection to give, while sicheng, on the other hand, loved to be touched and craved physical contact, as much as he did not want to admit it. these random bouts of touchy and loving interactions had just become all too routine for them. the two shifted slightly to get more comfortable on the couch and layed on the couch looking into space.

⠀⠀“you should text him before we sleep,” yukhei commented through a yawn as he settled himself into his place, eyes closed. sicheng would usually encourage yukhei to go back to his own house to sleep at this point but soon decided he was far too comfortable interlocked with him .

⠀⠀sicheng gently grabbed his phone and the phone number card, trying his best not to disrupt the boy on him. first, he saved the number into his phone before then starting a short text that he hoped to be answered when he woke.

⠀⠀“hey this is sicheng, sorry if yukhei bothered you earlier, i’m going to sleep now but i was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime this weekend,” the text read. as sleep was beginning to overcome him, sicheng sent the message and placed his phone on the coffee table beside the couch.

⠀⠀“goodnight yukhei,” sicheng said quietly to only receive a mumbled response. soon both boys were enveloped in a blanket of sleep.


	7. VII

⠀⠀sicheng was woken by the sound and feeling of movement around him. stretching his limbs in all directions, the tired boy opened his eyes to find yukhei sitting on the ground in front of the couch. he only looked at the other for a second before closing his eyes once more, hoping that if he closed them long enough he would not need to get up and could just fade away with the rest of the world. suddenly, an important realization hit him, making his eyes fly open to look at yukhei again.

⠀⠀“why do you have my phone,” sicheng asked groggily, making yukhei jump and quicky place the phone on the coffee table in front of him. he looked back at sicheng with an innocent smile and patted his friend on the head lightly.

⠀⠀“you must be really tired if you think i had your phone,” yukhei said as he began to scoot away a few inches at a time so that it wasn’t so obvious to sicheng. sicheng rolled his eyes at the other before grabbing his phone from where yukhei had put it and looking at for whatever damage had been done.

⠀⠀“yukhei, what the fuck is this,” sicheng asked and he looked at his text messages in a panic. there it was, a full conversation with none other than qian kun, one that he started but definitely did not continue at the point of where it was.

⠀⠀“i just planned ur date with kun and invited myself on it,” yukhei said innocently. he had not scooted so far away that he was against the wall on the other side of the room. “just to chaperon, kun said he had a friend who would want to come so who knows, maybe i’ll find my own man,”

⠀⠀“yukhei, the last time we went on a double date, you almost left without me,” sicheng said, remembering the embarrassing event.

⠀⠀“emphasis on almost, we only drove one block before i realized you weren’t with us,” yukhei said as if trying to turn the whole ordeal into something that wasn’t that bad. the last time yukhei and sicheng had went on a double date, sicheng’s date had become so enamoured by yukhei that when they left the restaurant, yukhei was the only one that realized sicheng wasn’t in the car with them as they began to drive away. sicheng’s date had tried to pull it off as a joke when really sicheng had just completely slipped his mind, that was the last date the pair ever went on.

⠀⠀“what did you even plan,” sicheng said as he scrolled through the numerous lines of conversation yukhei and kun had over the course of about two hours.

⠀⠀“we’re gonna go get coffee in about an hour,” yukhei said happily, “which reminds me, we should start getting ready, see ya in a bit,” he added before grabbing his shoes and heading out the front door and to his own house.

⠀⠀it took sicheng a few moments to process what yukhei has said to him but as soon as he did, he ran up the stairs of his house and into his room to get ready. after taking a shower and fixing himself in the most casually attractive way he could, sicheng looked at his phone to see he had a text from yukhei.

⠀⠀“do you approve of the look,” yukhei had sent accompanying a mirror selfie of himself he had obviously spent forever taking. Sicheng groaned at the photo upon opening it fully, yukhei always had to look so good for absolutely no reason and it was very bothersome to sicheng.

⠀⠀“dress down, ur too hot,” sicheng typed before pressing send and throwing his phone on his. he let out an exasperated groan before trudging to his closet to see if there was any possible way for him to top the look yukhei had put together in a matter of minutes.

⠀⠀“are you alright honey,” sicheng’s mother called from outside his room. sicheng let out another even more exasperated groan and his mother just laughed lightly in response. “yukhei texted me saying you were going on a date, go get em tiger,” his mom encouraged as she walked away from his door to continue doing the task she had been before. sicheng never really understood why yukhei always texted his mother rather than his own mother but this was the life he lived. there was no point in questioning it after years and years of the same occurrences.

⠀⠀time was running out and sicheng was still standing in his room with only a towel around his waist. he grabbed his phone from where he had tossed it on his bed and texted yukhei, asking him to come over immediately. in about three minutes, yukhei busted into sichengs room looking like an actual god.

⠀⠀“yukhei, lend me your model looks,” sicheng pleaded as he laid on his bed.

⠀⠀“i got you,” yukhei agreed happily and then went into sicheng’s closet to find something for his friend to where. sicheng could dress up but the thing was that yukhei dressed up better and used very edgy things sicheng could never see himself pulling off. yukhei pulled a few things out of the closet and set them on the bed next to sicheng, “here, this should be good.” without question, sicheng grabbed the items and began to put them on.

⠀⠀“i’ll meet you downstairs,” sicheng said, sending yukhei out of his room while he changed. yukhei promptly got up and left the room at that request and now sicheng was alone. he changed into the outfit yukhei had made for him and looked in the mirror.

⠀⠀he sure did look good.

⠀⠀sicheng silently thanked yukhei in his mind as he did some final touch ups to his appearance and made his way downstairs.

⠀⠀“yukhei, we look hot,” sicheng said stepping down the final step and walking into the living room. he opened his mouth to continue speaking but was completely taken aback by the sight in front of him.

⠀⠀“oh yeah, kun and his friend yangyang are here,” yukhei said as if he had just realized he never informed sicheng of their arrival. sicheng was now looking at yukhei, kun, and a new boy named yangyang, sitting on the couch before him. “apparently your mother let them in, they were down here when you kicked me out of your room,” he added.

⠀⠀“sorry for coming a little early, yangyang insisted that it was a good idea,” kun said as he stood from his seat and took a step toward sicheng. the boy called yangyang followed suit and nudged kun slightly, “oh yeah, i introduced him to yukhei a bit ago but sicheng, this is yangyang,” kun said, introducing the man behind him. “and yangyang, this is sicheng,”

⠀⠀“you and kun met yesterday but i swear he has been talking about you non stop since then,” yangyang said as he stepped out from behind kun and stuck his hand out for sicheng to shake. kun elbowed yangyang to stop him from revealing any other embarrassing details and yangyang dodged his attack swiftly. “it’s nice to meet you,” he said as sicheng took his hand and shook it.

⠀⠀looking at the other, sicheng realized a few things very quickly. yangyang was very short, sicheng had quite a few inches on the boy and could almost completely see over his head if he was simply just looking forward. another thing was that yangyang was extremely cute, he was attractive but in a very different and very cute way in comparison to kun. he was the embodiment of a soft boy, a whole baby, what could be described as a cinnamon apple.

⠀⠀“it’s nice to meet you too,” sicheng said happily. upon turning his attention from yangyang to kun, the mood changed completely. kun looked far too good for this to be just a casual coffee date. it was like kun had just come off a runway and come straight to his house. kun, not so gently, nudged yangyang to the side so that he was the one now standing in front of the sicheng.

⠀⠀“you look nice,” kun said as he looked sicheng up and down, lip caught between his teeth. this made sicheng feel some type of way as a smile crept onto his face, his face felt hot as he got entangled in the other’s gaze.

⠀⠀“alright no one is getting a room just yet, let’s get going,” yukhei interrupted, pushing in between the entranced pair and pulling sicheng with him as to end the interaction. with a quick goodbye to sicheng’s mom, the four boys made their way out to a car sicheng didn’t recognize that was parked in front of his house. yangyang sat in the driver's seat which prompted yukhei to hop in the passenger, forcing kun and sicheng to sit in the back. almost instantly, yukhei and yangyang had started their own conversation and seemed to be hitting it off even before the car left the driveway.

⠀⠀“what happened to no one is getting a room just yet?” sicheng said as if to mock his friend, only to be ignored by the pair in the front. kun and sicheng could only look at each other and smile, admiring how well their friends were getting along. as the car pulled off, the ride to the coffee shop began.

⠀⠀“that was an interesting call i received from yukhei last night,” kun teased with a smirk. sicheng rolled his eyes with a groan. of course kun would bring that up.

⠀⠀“don’t even get me started, it was so embarrassing,”


	8. VIII

⠀⠀the ride came to an end as the group pulled up to a coffee shop that yukhei and sicheng used to visit frequently. upon realizing where they were, a moment of panic settled in sicheng’s stomach as he exited the car and dragged yukhei a distance away to talk to him.

⠀⠀“you know mark works here, right?” sicheng said, fiddling nervously with his fingers in front of him. yukhei nodded innocently, as if it was not a big deal that he had now placed sicheng in the awkward position of possible meeting his ex-boyfriend from years ago. “so why exactly are we here?” he continued, seeing as yukhei knew how hard he worked to avoid this cafe in particular.

⠀⠀“it has been years since your break up, four years,” yukhei said, pointing out the most obvious thing he possibly could. “and, on top of that, mark has a boyfriend anyway so there is no need to avoid him, he’s moving on and so are we,” he commented before turning to approach kun and yangyang who were waiting near the entrance of the cafe. sicheng grabbed his arm as to stop him, and turned him toward him once more.

⠀⠀“i guess you are right,” he muttered before raising an eyebrow at his friend, “but _we’re_ moving on you say, you’re already putting the moves on yangyang,” putting emphasis on _we’re_ in particular as to recall what yukhei had just said. yukhei couldn’t help but smile as he sent a wink to sicheng, to which sicheng responded happily by practically jumping on his best friend with a proud expression. after a moment of celebration, the pair collected themselves and finally made their way to kun and yangyang.

⠀⠀“you two alright?” kun asked as yukhei and sicheng approached, the pair looked at each other and nodded happily before leading the way into the cafe. 

⠀⠀sicheng had to admit that he was nervous about seeing mark again but with a hot piece of eye candy like kun by his side, it couldn’t possibly be that bad. approaching the counter confidently, sicheng was greeted with a face he would never forget no matter how hard he had tried to. mark seemed just as surprised to see sicheng as sicheng was to see him, even if he knew there was a possibility of mark working at that time.

⠀⠀“sicheng, wow, it’s been years,” mark said with a tinge of disbelief in his tone. sicheng could only manage to laugh nervously in response as he scratched the back of his neck lightly. “and yukhei is here too, never one without the other, just like in high school,” mark said with a laugh as he looked from sicheng to yukhei and back again.

⠀⠀“it’s nice to see you, sorry i haven’t been around much,” sicheng said, beginning to feel guilty about avoiding the boy for as long as he did. sicheng could only think about how far he went out of his way to avoid having to go to this cafe even though it was the closest to his home. mark was nothing close to a bad guy and sicheng was the one that ended their relationship so why had he avoided the other for so long?

⠀⠀“it’s no problem, we can catch up later,” mark said as his eyes skimmed over the four people in front of him, “i see you are busy right now, so what will you have today?” he asked. sicheng and yukhei ordered their drinks first followed by kun and yangyang. mark said that he would bring their drinks to their table and to just find a seat wherever they wanted.

⠀⠀“see, it wasn’t bad at all,” yukhei whispered as they walked to the table at the side of the cafe next to a window with a beautiful view of the scenery outside. sicheng sat next to kun while yukhei sat on the other side of the table with yangyang.

⠀⠀“i used to come here on occasion in high school, but my friends were more interested in sneaking into nightclubs than going to cute cafes,” kun said as we let his eyes roam around the quaint space. sicheng could definitely see kun going to a nightclub but that thought would send him to a realm he didn’t think he was quite ready for so he paused the idea immediately.

⠀⠀“i was here almost everyday to do homework with yukhei, but we didn’t get much done since he is really distracting all the time,” sicheng said, gesturing toward his friend, who had already made conversation with yangyang across the table.

⠀⠀sicheng reminisced about the time he had spent in this cafe with yukhei while they were in high school. sicheng would attempt to do homework while yukhei would scope out people in the surrounding area and interrupt sicheng every few minutes. this proved to make doing homework rather hard but every time he went back to the cafe to do homework, he would invite yukhei to come with him.

⠀⠀“yangyang was the one that encouraged me to go to nightclubs with him often so i guess you could say he was distracting as well,” kun said looking at the pair across the table. “they’re cute don’t you think?” he added, watching yangyang and yukhei interact.

⠀⠀“yeah, they are,” sicheng replied, admiring the sight in front of him. it warmed his heart to see yukhei enjoying himself and showing genuine interest in someone. yukhei sure was a flirt but this seemed different than his usual headass flirting techniques.

⠀⠀“we’re cuter though,” kun said mischievously, moving over to nudge sicheng lighty. sicheng responded with a laugh and pushed kun away lightly as a blush spread across his face. just as he was going to say something, mark finally arrived at the table with their drinks.

⠀⠀“if you need anything, i’ll be at the counter,” he said, placing each drink in front of its respective recipient and returning to his station. sicheng grabbed his cup to see ‘good luck on your date,’ written on the side in handwriting that he knew all too well. he looked up at mark who smiled and gave him a thumbs up while mouthing ‘he’s really cute,’ in reference to kun. sicheng was now feeling more confident as he took a swig of the coffee he had missed the taste of over the years.

⠀⠀“i am going to file a complaint with the manager, mark wrote _ur gay_ on my cup,” yukhei complained loudly. mark could be heard laughing behind the counter as he continued doing his job of making various drinks.

⠀⠀“oh my god, he wrote _yukhei is gay_ on mine,” yangyang said, showing his cup to the table. this was the spark that caused the table to erupt fully in laugher. the four had a very interesting conversation that started with yukhei calling the cup messages _a threat_ and sicheng trying to reason with him by saying there was nothing wrong with the cups _pointing out the obvious_.

⠀⠀as they finished their drinks, mark brought over complimentary pieces of cake for each pair to share as a thanks for coming.

⠀⠀sicheng was so enamoured by the attractive boy next to him and the cake on the table that he didn’t even notice that the pair across the table had disappeared.

⠀⠀“when did they leave?” sicheng asked upon finally noticing his friend and his impromptu date were no longer in their places. 

⠀⠀“a few minutes ago. i think they’re in the bathroom making out,” kun said nonchalantly as he took a bite of cake. sicheng’s eyes went wide and darted toward the direction of the bathroom that was across the cafe. “you seriously didn’t see them whispering to each other before they got up to use the bathroom?” kun asked putting his fork down and looking at sicheng.

⠀⠀“no, holy shit,” sicheng said as he continued to stare at the bathroom door. yukhei was a grown ass man who could make his own decisions so that wasn’t what was bothering sicheng. what was bothering him was that yukhei was hitting bases faster than he was and he had only known yangyang a few hours. “i’m sorry if my friend corrupts yangyang,” sicheng said, finally taking his eye off the door to look at kun.

⠀⠀“oh no that would not happen, yangyang was definitely the one who initiated it,” kun said, which made sicheng’s face reveal a very confused expression. “remember when i said yangyang would usually help me sneak into nightclubs when we were in our senior year of high school? he is not as innocent as he looks,” he added. sicheng should know to never judge a person on their appearance but it was hard to believe how unbelievable wrong he had been about this one.

⠀⠀as he pondered, his eyes found yukhei, who was now exiting the bathroom with yangyang. yukhei’ hair looked a lot less tame than it had before but he ran his fingers through it in an attempt to make it look normal as the pair approached the table.

⠀⠀“have fun?” sicheng questioned with a wink as yukhei and yangyang sat down.

⠀⠀“whatever do you mean,” yukhei said as he took his fork and took a bite of the cake to try and conceal the smirk on his face. sicheng got all he needed from those four words and would definitely be interrogating him about the encounter later.

⠀⠀“do you two need to use the bathroom? it’s open now,” yangyang asked smoothly, causing sicheng to nearly choke on the bite of cake he had in his mouth. he shook his head as he forced the bite down his throat to avoid actually dying.

⠀⠀“you truly are shameless,” kun said looking at yangyang who happily took the comment as a compliment.

⠀⠀finishing the cake, the group thanked mark for the great service and left the cafe. they all got into yangyang’s car in the same places they had been before and rolled out to return to their respective homes. 

⠀⠀after a short ride and some nice conversation, they had arrived at sicheng’s house. sicheng and kun got out of the car and walked to the porch while yukhei and yangyang got out and stayed, sitting on the hood of the car.

⠀⠀“i had fun today,” sicheng said, a cute smile spread across his face as he gazed at the boy in front of him.

⠀⠀“i had fun too, we should hang out without those two next time,” kun said with a nod toward the pair sitting on the hood of the car.

⠀⠀yukhei and yangyang were playing with each others hands as they talked and sicheng was absolutely living for it. nothing could make sicheng happier than yukhei finally finding someone with potential boyfriend qualities. well, maybe what could make him happier was obtaining a boyfriend of his own but that was beside the point.

⠀⠀“i don’t think they need us anymore anyway,” sicheng said as he finally took his eyes off the pair and back to kun.

⠀⠀“yeah, i should probably take yangyang away before those two disappear again,” kun said before holding his arms out to give sicheng a final hug before his departure. sicheng gladly accepted this embrace and pulled the other toward him gently. “i’ll text you in a bit, okay?” kun said then pulling away to look sicheng in the eyes.

⠀⠀sicheng nodded as his words had suddenly got caught in his throat, disabling his ability to produce words in any sense. with this, kun let go and finally turned away, returning to the car yukhei and yangyang were still sitting on. as kun approached, yukhei placed a light kiss on yangyang’s cheek before hopping off the car and bounding excitedly toward sicheng.

⠀⠀“that was fucking amazing,” yukhei said as he finally reached sicheng, standing next to him as they watched the boys enter the car and drive off. as soon as the car was out of sight, sicheng slapped yukhei’s arm harshly.

⠀⠀“how dare you make out with yangyang when i haven’t even kissed kun,” sicheng said bitterly as he unlocked the front door of the house.

⠀⠀“we did a bit more than that but i mean,” yukhei remarked, prompting sicheng to once again attack his arm with more force than the initial hit. “he started it, was i supposed to say no?”

⠀⠀the boys walked into the house and after a short meeting with sicheng’s mother informing her that they were home, they headed up to sicheng’s room. sicheng flopped onto his bed while yukhei stood in front of the mirror taking pictures of himself as he so often did.

⠀⠀“tell me about the bathroom experience,” sicheng said, getting up from the bed and standing next to yukhei as the other took pictures.

⠀⠀“you know i don’t kiss and tell,” yukhei teased, taking a few pictures of himself and sicheng before reviewing the photos.

⠀⠀“you sure don’t, spill right now” sicheng said glaring at yukhei before returning his attention back to the pictures of them that yukhei was scrolling through.

⠀⠀“okay fine, it was unreal,” yukhei began dramatically, lowering himself to sit on the ground. sicheng followed suit as yukhei continued to tell him of what lead up to the bathroom incident and what happened once they were in the bathroom itself. 

⠀⠀sicheng’s earlier perception of yangyang as a cinnamon bun quickly disappeared and was replaced with something more admirably edgy as yukhei went on.

⠀⠀and on.

⠀⠀and… on.


	9. IX

⠀⠀the week that followed felt like a dream to sicheng.

⠀⠀while he thought his presence would not be needed in the qian house as kun was finally there to watch the twins, he was still invited to come during his regular times. the twins’ mother ensured sicheng that he didn’t necessarily need to come but the twins were so fond of him and kun seemed to want him to come as well, so he was welcome to stop by if he wished and he would still get paid.

⠀⠀with this information, sicheng headed to the qian house after his classes on monday, wednesday, and friday to do his job of babysitting. sicheng had to admit that it was more that he wanted to hang out with kun but the babysitting was also very important.

⠀⠀monday.

⠀⠀after attending his classes, sicheng made his way straight to the qian house. usually he was greeted by an empty house that he would let himself into but this time, kun was there to greet him and let him inside the home. it was then that something very important dawned upon sicheng, causing the nerves in him to rise.

⠀⠀the two would be in the home for a little more than an hour, alone.

⠀⠀sicheng could not help but think about the first time him and kun were alone in the house the day they met. they hadn’t even been completely alone and things had almost gotten far more than intimate between the pair. this alone was enough to cause sicheng to be on edge, sensitive to kun’s every movement as they moved to sit in the kitchen.

⠀⠀sicheng had course work to do and while he normally had little to no difficulty focusing, kun’s existence alone proved to be extremely distracting. sicheng was sure that kun meant no wrong by sitting near him and watching him do his work but every once in a while, he could feel kun’s foot brush against his leg. this would send shivers up sicheng’s spine but he ignored it to the best of his ability.

⠀⠀finally, when sicheng was almost at his breaking point, the loud twins could be heard from outside as they were dropped off in front of the house. kun rose from his seat to let the twins in the house and sicheng couldn’t help but sigh in relief and put his head down on the table.

⠀⠀this was only the beginning.

⠀⠀wednesday.

⠀⠀sicheng headed to the qian house after his classes just like he had the monday before. kun let him in casually and they headed to the kitchen as if on schedule. sicheng took a seat at the kitchen table to start his work only to have kun take the seat right next to him as opposed to his usual spot. kun placed his arm around the back of sicheng’s chair and leaned toward him to get a better look at sicheng’s homework.

⠀⠀sicheng wanted to melt under the little physical contact kun was making with him but he couldn’t give in to his own desires. staring at his course work, kun was really trying sicheng’s patience but sicheng refused to entertain his actions.

⠀⠀sicheng was a responsible and patient boy who definitely was not thinking about the circles kun was now drawing on his back with his finger. focusing on his work, sicheng was not in any way thinking about how hot the room seemed to be getting with every circle kun traced. 

⠀⠀“you okay?” kun questioned innocently. it was now that sicheng realized he was focusing so much on things he was trying to ignore that he had stopped writing and was just staring at the assignment in front of him. closing his course book, sicheng lifted himself from his chair, still feeling rather hot from the interactions that had just occurred.

⠀⠀“i am going to the bathroom,” sicheng announced, and before kun could say something headass in response, he added, “and you are staying here.”

⠀⠀sicheng sped to the bathroom and crumbled to the ground after closing and locking the door. the plan was to calm down in the bathroom and leave once he was ready to face his impending doom. he sat on the bathroom floor for what felt like around ten minutes before he finally got up and splashed water on his face. when sicheng had finally collected himself, he made his way out of the bathroom and back to the kitchen.

⠀⠀as sicheng caught kun’s eyes, he was going to say something but with the sound of the door unlocking echoing through the house, he opted out and headed toward the front door to greet the twins. 

⠀⠀friday.

⠀⠀the first two days of the week began with almost unbearable teasing and had finally come down to the last night that sicheng and kun would be watching the twins together.

⠀⠀sicheng approached the house like he had the days before and saw kun waiting for him at the door.

⠀⠀“before you come in, this was not my idea,” kun warned as he stepped aside and let sicheng enter the home. initially, sicheng was very confused but kept his questions to himself for the moment. after taking off his shoes and heading further into the home, he finally understood what kun meant.

⠀⠀⠀⠀“hey baby winwin,” yukhei called from his place on the couch. yangyang, who was sitting beside yukhei, waved happily at sicheng without a word. sicheng could barely believe his eyes as he gaped at the pair, there was no way this was happening right at this moment. sicheng’s senses were brought back to him when he felt an arm fall around his shoulders.

⠀⠀“like i said, this was not my idea,” kun said before withdrawing his arm from sicheng’s shoulder and finding a seat on the couch with the others. sicheng, no longer being able to keep his questions to himself, wasted no time grabbing yukhei’s arm and pulling him out of sight from yangyang and kun.

⠀⠀“why,” was the only thing sicheng could manage to say at this point.

⠀⠀“now sicheng, this was not my idea,” yukhei replied while raising his hands in defense.

⠀⠀“this is the third time i have heard that today,” sicheng complained as he rubbed his temples, looking at the boy in front of him. “if it wasn’t your idea, then whose was it?”

⠀⠀“well yangyang was telling me about how you and kun were babysitting together this week,” yukhei began cautiously, sensing the less than pleasant energy that sicheng was giving off. “so we figured the more the merrier and invited ourselves here,”

⠀⠀“so what you’re telling me is that it was not your idea, but it was your idea,” sicheng reiterated, pure annoyance lacing his every word. yukhei swiftly avoided making eye contact with the bothered boy as he played with his own hands.

⠀⠀“well, when you put it like that,” yukhei said, letting his words trail off toward the end.

⠀⠀“i would choke slam you right now if you weren’t nine feet tall,” sicheng muttered as he trudged away from yukhei and toward where everyone else was. yukhei quickly caught up, slinging his arm around sicheng happily. yukhei slowed sicheng’s pace and spent a few extra moments attempting to convince him that this was not the end of the world. yangyang worked with kids as a dance instructor at the school he goes to and yukhei claimed to be just _naturally charming_ so in the end, what could possibly go wrong? sicheng could think of a million things but yukhei was not having any of them.

⠀⠀“just do as you normally do, we won’t bother you,” yukhei said and finally, the pair met yangyang and kun in the living room.

⠀⠀to sicheng’s surprise, it was not nearly as bad as he had envisioned the scenario to be. yangyang and yukhei kept to themselves for most of the time, although the fact that they were practically on top of each other was kind of distracting. once the twins arrived at the home, they were absolutely smitten by yukhei. all yukhei had to do was smile and they just listened to him without question. sicheng was a bit envious but this did make his job a lot easier when it came to asking the kids to do small tasks that they would normally groan about. babysitting in a group proved to be extremely easy and much more fun than babysitting individually. the quartet watched the twins successfully and when ms. qian finally got back from work, she was happy to hear that everyone had enjoyed themselves.

⠀⠀“your kids are amazing, i’ll come to babysit with sicheng sometimes,” yukhei called to the qian’s mother as he exited their house with yangyang. sicheng trailed behind them with kun by his side, savoring the few minutes they had left with him.

⠀⠀“i’ll text you tomorrow, keep your schedule open,” kun said as he brought his face closer to sicheng’s and gently laid a kiss on his cheek. a small chorus of aww’s could be heard from the pair in the car who had rolled the window of the car down to get a better view of what was happening.

⠀⠀“bye bye, lover boy,” yukhei said as kun finally started heading back into his home. sicheng got in the car with a huge smile on his face, he was over the moon.

⠀⠀“he really likes you,” yangyang said, looking at sicheng through the rear view mirror.

⠀⠀“i really like him too.”


	10. X

⠀⠀once yangyang dropped sicheng and yukhei off at sicheng’s house, the rollercoaster of emotions began. both men seemed to be going through it severely. it was like in one moment they were fine and happy with how the day went and then the next moment they were sad and sulking about how yangyang and kun were really leaving in a matter of hours.

⠀⠀yes, they had only known kun and yangyang for about a week but this was the first time in a while that either had come in contact with actual boyfriend material. it had gotten increasingly hard to meet nice and attractive men who would reciprocate the feelings they had and with yangyang and kun, they had finally found that.

⠀⠀after numerous small emotional crises from both sicheng and yukhei, the friends eventually fell asleep, allowing the night to come and go.

⠀⠀when sicheng finally came to, he was unsurprised to find yukhei already awake in bed beside him. stretching his arms, sicheng slowly managed to force himself to sit up and leant over to see what yukhei was doing on his phone. it looked as if yukhei had been texting yangyang for quite some time now as he was in the middle of texting a reply that sicheng couldn’t quite read because of how unfocused his eyes were at the moment. this prompted him to check his own phone, reaching his arm out to the nightstand and grabbing it from it’s place next to his lamp. sicheng took a moment to look through the notifications he received from his lock screen before unlocking the phone and heading straight to his messages. he was pleased to find that he had received a message from kun and less pleased to see a message from yukhei, who was literally right next to him.

⠀⠀“yangyang and i will be over at around 6pm tonight, see you then,” a text kun had sent around thirty minutes ago sat in his phone. sicheng could feel his face warm up after reading the short message and quickly sent out a small acknowledgement, making his excitement for their meeting known. after getting over the initial butterflies the text from kun filled him with, sicheng moved on to look at the text he had gotten from his good old friend yukhei.

⠀⠀“kun is literally so gay for you, yangyang said he won’t stop talking about you,” as much as it annoyed sicheng that yukhei would always text him when they were in the same room, this was a message he could tolerate.

⠀⠀“you just had to text this to me while i was asleep, you couldn’t have just told me when i woke up?” sicheng asked, glancing at the boy to his side who was immersed in his phone.

⠀⠀“well good morning to you too and i could have done that but i love how much it bothers you when i text you from the same room,” yukhei said with a mischievous smile and a wink toward his best friend. sicheng could do nothing but roll his eyes at yukhei before pulling himself out of the bed and toward the bathroom where he would prepare for his day.

⠀⠀“yangyang told me kun asked to use his car tonight, i wonder if someone is gonna get lucky,” yukhei said from outside the bathroom. sicheng had to stop himself from letting his mind run to less appropriate places as he focused on getting the shower water the right temperature for him. “but then again, yangyang said if you two fuck in his car he’ll kill you.”

⠀⠀“shut up,” sicheng called loudly over the noise of the shower.

⠀⠀“fuck him in the car though, i’m putting money on this,” yukhei called quickly but as sicheng opened the bathroom door to attack his friend, yukhei was already out of the room most likely heading back to his own home. sicheng groaned loudly as he re-entered the bathroom to finally take his shower and get his mind together.

⠀⠀after taking a year long shower, sicheng eventually exited the bathroom. it was around two in the afternoon by the time sicheng was dressed and ready to face the rest of the day head on. his first order of business was to talk to his mother who he quickly found in the kitchen.

⠀⠀“hi mama,” sicheng said as he gave his mom a light hug before taking a seat at the kitchen table. his mother greeted him happily and finished cleaning the last of the dishes before sitting at the table with him.

⠀⠀“i heard from ms. qian that you have been getting cozy with kun,” sicheng’s mother said cheerfully. sicheng couldn’t help but smile at the small mention of kun as well as the fact that his mother had developed so much over the past few years. sicheng had come out to his mother when he was in high school as he started his relationship with mark. initially, she did not understand and took the news poorly. now that years of learning and understanding had led to this time, sicheng’s mother was very supportive of him and only wanted him to be happy.

⠀⠀“do you guys have anything better to talk about than my life?” sicheng complained playfully. he wasn’t at all upset but it was a little embarrassing to talk about with his mother of all people.

⠀⠀“talking about the future merging of our families is the best thing we could possibly talk about,” she continued with a hearty laugh. sicheng placed his head in his hands, complaining that she was thinking way to far in the future and that him and kun were not even in a relationship at this point. “no harm in looking forward, kun is an amazing boy afterall.”

⠀⠀“okay mama, okay,” sicheng said, lifting himself from his seat and giving his mother a small hug once more. “i’ll be at yukhei’s if you need me alright, see you later,” then with that, he pulled on his shoes and exited the home promptly.

⠀⠀the walk to yukhei’s house was nothing more than a few steps across a medium sized lawn much like his own. after knocking on the front door a few times, he was let in by yukhei’s father, who told him that yukhei’s was in his room. sicheng headed up to his best friends room and upon arrival, burst into the room with no warning.

⠀⠀“you left my room so fast i didn’t get the chance to beat you for saying what you said,” sicheng said to the startled yukhei. the initial sudden opening of the door had made yukhei jump but now that he saw sicheng, he was stifling a laugh.

⠀⠀“oh come on, car fucking sounds fun,” yukhei started calmly, as if this was just a casual everyday interaction. sicheng closed the bedroom door behind him and trudged to sit on the bed next to his friend.

⠀⠀“car fucking has your name written all over it yukhei, not mine,” he replied, leaning onto yukhei who was still texting someone sicheng assumed to be yangyang on his phone. 

⠀⠀“i said it sounded fun, not that i would do it,” yukhei corrected as if it actually mattered, “you won’t have to worry about it anyway, yangyang says that kun is into a few risque things but exhibitionism is not one of them.”

⠀⠀“why are you two so interested in the prospects of kun and i fucking and not the fact that you have just as much as a chance as we do, probably even more,” sicheng’s tone turned into more of a mutter near the end of the sentence. yukhei explained this by saying that he was only talking to yangyang about these things to make sure sicheng’s virgin self was in very good hands. this sparked a playful commentary that had sicheng arguing about yukhei not actually being worried and just wanting to be nosey while yukhei claimed that while that might be true, the sentiment was still there.

⠀⠀time flew as the pair spoke and before they knew it, yangyang and kun would be arriving in a matter of minutes. sicheng and yukhei quickly made their final adjustments to their looks and scurried out of yukhei’s house, only to sit on the porch of sicheng’s abode. after about ten minutes of just waiting and talking, a familiar car finally pulled into the driveway.

⠀⠀“good luck honey,” yukhei said teasingly as he stood up to greet their dates. sicheng followed suit, and the pair approached the car. yangyang pulled yukhei to the side after getting out of the car, sicheng took a moment to observe the two before then looking at kun.

⠀⠀“looking stunning as always,” kun complimented as he approached sicheng, looking him up and down. sicheng could feel himself shrink under the pressure of that compliment alone but he couldn’t let his nerves get the best of him.

⠀⠀“you aren’t too bad looking yourself,” sicheng said as a smile crept upon his face. kun took a few more moments to just admire sicheng before he motioned his hands toward the car.

⠀⠀“our carriage awaits,” kun said as he opened the passenger door of the car, prompting sicheng to get inside. sicheng quietly thanked the other and got into the car before kun gently closed the door. kun then hurried to the other side of the car and hopped into the driver's seat, yangyang’s keys in hand.

⠀⠀“you scratch her, i kill you,” yangyang called as a warning. kun nodded in acknowledgement as he started the car and they finally sped out of the driveway, leaving yangyang and yukhei in the distance.

⠀⠀“where are we going?” sicheng asked, looking from the window to kun. sicheng couldn’t help but admire how good kun looked while he was driving. one hand on the wheel may not have been the safest approach to driving but it sure was something great to look at from sicheng’s perspective.

⠀⠀“somewhere i used to go a lot when i was younger,” kun responded without taking his eyes off the road in front of him. sicheng was rather familiar with the area they were in as he had lived there for the most part his entire life. about twenty minutes after they had entered the car, they were now exiting at a place sicheng knew all too well. after getting out of the car himself, kun hurried to sicheng’s side and opened the car door for him.

⠀⠀“park centre,” sicheng said as he lifted himself out of the car and looked at the park before him. park centre was the largest playground area in the district, a place sicheng frequented with yukhei when they were just children. “what are we doing here?” sicheng questioned as he looked at the empty and dimly lit area in front of him.

⠀⠀“actually, i wanted to talk to you about something,” kun said, holding his hand out for sicheng to hold. sicheng accepted the hand quickly and in a matter of seconds, the pair walked into the park hand in hand.

⠀⠀they walked in silence for a while, almost as if they were both waiting for the other to say something but they never did. it felt like they were the only two people in the world, like they were made for eachother in one way or another. kun led them to the top of a hill that overlooked the playground and stopped, looking up at the dim sky before finally letting his eyes fall upon sicheng who was taking in his surroundings while his eyes surveyed the area. sicheng’s attention was brought back to the boy in front of him when kun started rubbing circles on the back of the hand he was still holding.

⠀⠀finally, their eyes connected and everything seemed to fall into place at that exact moment. it was getting darker as the minutes passed but it didn’t seem to bother the pair in the slightest, they just needed this moment together.

⠀⠀“i really like you,” kun finally spoke, not breaking the eye contact they held. sicheng was overjoyed to finally be hearing those words from the man himself. “i know we have only really just met but if you’re okay with it, i would like to get to know you more,” he continued, the start of a nervous ramble that sicheng could not help but giggle at.

⠀⠀“i like you too,” sicheng interrupted, a smile spread large across his face as he let the words come out of his mouth. “but right now, i’d like to do something else other than getting to know you.” nothing else mattered more than this second, this moment.

⠀⠀as if mutually understood, the mood in the air changed in an instant from something soft to something much more passionate. sicheng took the initiative, letting go of kun’s hand and putting his arms around his neck gently, pulling their faces closer together. kun brought his hand up and gently let it glide over sicheng’s jaw slowly, dragging his hand down the other’s body until it found its place on sicheng’s waist.

⠀⠀“can i kiss you?” kun asked with a smirk, a homage to the moment they had shared on kun’s house the first day they had met. sicheng could only smile as his eyes traced the luscious outline of kun’s lips before he leaned forward, tilting his head ever so slightly as if to accept the proposal.

⠀⠀when their lips touched, it was like something out of a fairytale. the same fiery ache that sicheng had felt days before was back and it was back with a vengeance. the start of the kiss was rushed and somewhat sloppy but as the moments passed, both men reached a pace that was perfect for them. they were done testing out the waters. sicheng and kun were not diving into an ocean of unknown head first, caution thrown to the wind. sicheng drove his hands through kun’s hair, wanting to deepen the kiss, like if he didn’t hold on, kun would just disappear. kun responded with the same vigor, wrapping his arms even tighter around sicheng’s waist firmly.

⠀⠀the crisp wind blew through the desolate park as sicheng and kun had their moment atop the hill but alas, all good things must come to an end at some point or another.

⠀⠀sicheng and kun came out of the kiss breathlessly, limbs still tangled. all they could do was rest their foreheads together as they caught their breath. when the pair finally collected themselves, they sat on the hill playing with each other’s hands.

⠀⠀“so you brought me out here to a park in order to tell me you liked me?” sicheng questioned as he look at their interlocked hands, “or was it just so you could kiss me?” he added with a teasing smirk.

⠀⠀“well i would be lying if i had not anticipated a kiss,” kun admitted which prompted a small slap on the arm from sicheng. “but i wanted to make a memory with you here,” he continued, then letting silence overcome them. after what seemed like an eternity of silence, kun finally started to get up which cued sicheng to do the same.

⠀⠀“let’s head back,” kun said and with that, sicheng and kun made their way down the hill toward the car. once at the car, kun opened the door for sicheng just as he had at the beginning of their excursion. kun then got into the driver's seat and they were soon heading back to sicheng’s house where they would meet up with yangyang and yukhei to say their final goodbyes.

⠀⠀a bittersweet ambiance filled the air as sicheng and kun pulled into the driveway and exited the car. within seconds, yukhei and yangyang also found their way out of yukhei’s house and greeted sicheng and kun.

⠀⠀“kun and i have to head back to our apartment tonight but you two are always welcome to come over,” yangyang said before then wrapping his arms around yukhei once more.

⠀⠀“we will surely take you up on that offer,” yukhei said as he peppered kisses on the top of yangyang’s head. sicheng could feel his mood deteriorating as he looked at the precious duo in front of him. he found himself wrapping his arms around kun tightly, not really wanting to ever let go.

⠀⠀“until next time, okay?” kun said quietly as he gazed into sicheng’s eyes gently. sicheng’s lips found kun’s lips lightly, a short and sweet kiss farewell.

⠀⠀then they were gone. yangyang and kun forced themselves to get into yangyang’s car and drove off before either could defect, leaving yukhei and sicheng watching as the car rolled away.

⠀⠀after a few moments of silence and standing in a very dimly lit driveway, sicheng and yukhei ended up speaking at the same time.

⠀⠀“we made out at a park.”

⠀⠀“yangyang is a dominant submissive.”

⠀⠀“what?” they said after processing what the other had said. then with that, a recalling of the nights events began between the best friends.


End file.
